First Real-Time Brain-Controlled Hearing Device

 Don't know if you want to wait for the perfect or need to address hearing loss now to prevent dementia! I guess the ads for Nebroo hearing aids are jumping the gun on their professed capabilities. 

Hearing Loss and Cognitive Decline in Older Adults December 2025 

The latest here:

First Real-Time Brain-Controlled Hearing Device

Summary: Researchers provided the first direct evidence that brain-controlled technology can help listeners isolate a single voice in a crowded environment. The study demonstrates a system that acts as a “neural extension,” utilizing real-time brain signals to identify which speaker a person is focusing on and automatically amplifying that specific voice.

This breakthrough addresses the “cocktail party effect”, a major limitation of conventional hearing aids, which often struggle to distinguish between overlapping conversations in noisy settings.

Key Research Findings

• The Brain-First Approach: Unlike traditional hearing aids that indiscriminately amplify all incoming sounds, this system leverages the brain’s natural ability to filter complex environments.
• Real-Time Identification: Using machine-learning algorithms, the system monitors the timing of brain wave “peaks and valleys” to match them with the specific patterns of a conversation.
• Direct Human Evidence: The study involved epilepsy patients with pre-implanted electrodes; the system correctly identified their focus and adjusted volumes instantly, significantly improving speech intelligibility and reducing “listening effort”.
• Dynamic Flexibility: The technology functioned successfully both when subjects were guided to a speaker and when they chose a conversation freely, mirroring real-world social dynamics.
• Practical Application: This research marks the transition of brain-controlled hearing from theoretical science to a functional prototype that provides immediate, real-time benefits.

Source: Columbia University

Scientists at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute have the first direct evidence from human studies that brain-controlled hearing technology can help people single out a voice in a crowd.

These early findings suggest that researchers may one day develop a hearing augmentation device that can, among other feats, overcome the problems that conventional hearing aids have with noisy surroundings.

By monitoring the synchronization of brain waves with the rhythms of specific voices, this real-time system acts as a neural extension that amplifies a listener’s intended conversation while silencing competing background noise. Credit: Neuroscience NewsTheir research was published online today in Nature Neuroscience.

“We have developed a system that acts as a neural extension of the user, leveraging the brain’s natural ability to filter through all the sounds in a complex environment to dynamically isolate the specific conversation they wish to hear,” said senior author Nima Mesgarani, PhD, a principal investigator at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute and an associate professor of electrical engineering at Columbia’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. 

“This science empowers us to think beyond traditional hearing aids, which simply amplify sound, toward a future where technology can restore the sophisticated, selective hearing of the human brain,” Dr. Mesgarani added.

In the new study, Columbia researchers teamed up with surgeons and their epilepsy patients who were undergoing brain surgery to better pinpoint the sources of their seizures. The hospital patients, who volunteered to be part of this study, already had electrodes implanted in their brains.

Dr. Mesgarani’s system used the electrodes to measure the brain activity of the patients as they focused on one of two overlapping conversations played simultaneously. The system then automatically detected which conversation a patient was paying attention to and adjusted the volume in real time, turning up that conversation while quieting the other.

For one volunteer, the experience of controlling the system with her brain was literally unbelievable. She accused the researchers of secretly adjusting the volumes. Others told stories about friends and family with hearing impairments who could benefit from such a technology. One person said: “It seems like science fiction.”

Modern hearing aids excel at amplifying speech while suppressing certain kinds of background noise, such as traffic. But they cannot separate and enhance particular voices of interest; they boost every voice coming into the microphone indiscriminately. This makes it difficult for people to concentrate on a specific talker amidst a jumble of voices. 

A promising solution to this problem is a hearing device that could mimic the way in which the human brain can typically identify and focus on just one speaker in a crowd, a phenomenon sometimes called the cocktail party effect.

In 2012, Dr. Mesgarani and his colleagues discovered ways to identify which sets of brain signals are linked with specific conversations amidst crowds of speakers. For example, the timing of peaks and valleys of brain waves can match up with the sounds and silences within a conversation. They also found that a distinct pattern of brain activity can reveal which conversation a person was focusing on and which they were filtering out.These discoveries could one day lead to real-world hearing assistance and augmentation devices that can monitor brain waves to detect and amplify the conversation a person is most interested in.

Over the course of hundreds of more studies in the past decade or so, Dr. Mesgarani and others have overcome a host of challenges attempting to make this dream a reality, such as developing computer algorithms to automatically separate out the voices of multiple speakers in a group, and then compare the voice of each speaker to the brain waves of a listener.

“The central unanswered question was whether brain-controlled hearing technology could move beyond incremental advances, towards a prototype that could help someone hear better in real time,” said Vishal Choudhari, the paper’s first author, who received his PhD in electrical engineering while in Dr. Mesgarani’s lab and who led the development and evaluation of the system.

“For the first time, we have shown that such a system that reads brain signals to selectively enhance conversations can provide a clear real-time benefit. This moves brain-controlled hearing from theory toward practical application.”

The researchers partnered with physicians and patients who volunteered to be part of the study at the Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine; the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, New York University School of Medicine; and the University of California San Francisco’s Department of Neurological Surgery. 

The scientists developed real-time machine-learning algorithms that could examine the brainwaves and identify which conversation the patients were paying attention to. Once deployed, their system could rapidly deduce which conversation each listener was paying attention to and make it easier for them to hear it.

This happened both when the researchers guided the subjects toward a particular conversation, and when the subjects chose freely, as would be necessary in a real-world conversation.

“For this to work in real time, the system has to be very fast, accurate and stable for the experience to feel pleasant for the listener,” Dr. Mesgarani said.

The scientists found their new system correctly identified which conversation the volunteers paid attention to. This dramatically improved the intelligibility of the speech the volunteers focused on, reduced listening effort, and was consistently preferred by the volunteers when compared to conversations the system did not provide assistance with.One volunteer recalled her uncle, who had hearing problems. “Can you imagine if this technology existed in a world [where] … he could access it? He might actually live a much more peaceful… life.”

According to the World Health Organization, more than 430 million people worldwide live with disabling hearing loss, many of whom struggle most in noisy social environments. Untreated hearing loss is a leading modifiable risk factor for dementia, as well as a primary contributor to depression and social isolation.

Scientists say this research lays the groundwork for future wearable systems that could one day integrate brain sensing with advanced audio processing. This would assist people with hearing loss and potentially augment hearing and reduce fatigue from listening for anyone in everyday challenging environments such as restaurants, classrooms, busy workplaces and family gatherings.

The scientists note that a great deal of work is needed before this technology is available in a wearable form that can work in a minimally invasive way in more complicated real-world scenarios. For instance, they would one day like to see how well their system can perform in real-world listening conditions which are more complex, Dr. Mesgarani said.

“The results mark an important step toward a new generation of brain-controlled hearing technologies that align with the listener’s intent, potentially transforming how people navigate noisy, multi-talker environments,” Dr. Choudhari added.

The full list of authors includes Vishal Choudhari, Maximilian Nentwich, Sarah Johnson, Jose L. Herrero, Stephan Bickel, Ashesh D. Mehta, Daniel Friedman, Adeen Flinker, Edward F. Chang, and Nima Mesgarani.

Funding: This work was funded by grants from the Marie-Josee and Henry R. Kravis Foundation and the National Institute of Health’s National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. 

Key Questions Answered:

Q: Will I need brain surgery to use this in the future?

A: While this study used surgical electrodes for precision, the ultimate goal is to develop wearable, minimally invasive systems that integrate brain sensing with audio processing for everyday use.

Q: How does the system “know” which person I’m listening to?

A: Every voice has a unique “rhythm” of sound and silence. Your brain activity syncs up with those specific rhythms when you focus. The system’s algorithms compare the brain waves of the listener to the separate voice streams it detects and “matches” them.

Q: Why is this considered a major health breakthrough?

A: Disabling hearing loss affects over 430 million people and is a primary risk factor for dementia, depression, and social isolation. Technology that makes social environments “peaceful” again could significantly reduce the cognitive fatigue and isolation associated with hearing impairment.

Editorial Notes:

• This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
• Journal paper reviewed in full.
• Additional context added by our staff.

About this auditory neuroscience and neurotech research news

Author: Nima Mesgarani, PhD
Source: Columbia University
Contact: Nima Mesgarani, PhD – Columbia University
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access.
“Real-time brain-controlled selective hearing enhances speech perception in multi-talker environments” by Vishal Choudhari, Maximilian Nentwich, Sarah Johnson, Jose L. Herrero, Stephan Bickel, Ashesh D. Mehta, Daniel Friedman, Adeen Flinker, Edward F. Chang & Nima Mesgarani. Nature Neuroscience
DOI:10.1038/s41593-026-02281-5

A sound link: Hearing, neurogenesis, and cognition

 With your risk of dementia post stroke your competent? doctor knew enough to get your hearing tested and hearing aids acquired to reduce that risk of dementia!

Your risk of dementia, has your doctor told you of this?  Your doctor is responsible for preventing this! Is s/he willing to prevent this?

1. A documented 33% dementia chance post-stroke from an Australian study?   May 2012.

2. Then this study came out and seems to have a range from 17-66%. December 2013.`    

3. A 20% chance in this research.   July 2013.

4. Dementia Risk Doubled in Patients Following Stroke September 2018 

Do you prefer your doctor, hospital and board of director's incompetence NOT KNOWING? OR NOT DOING? Your choice; let them be incompetent or demand action!

OH NO! your doctor KNOWS NOTHING AND DOES NOTHING! 

A sound link: Hearing, neurogenesis, and cognition

Abstract

Hearing loss has been considered one of the key risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia. Liu et al.1 establish a causal link between hearing activity, hippocampal neurogenesis, and cognitive function and identify the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system as the mediator.

Treating hearing loss is associated with a decrease in risk of early death and dementia, studies show

 FYI.

Treating hearing loss is associated with a decrease in risk of early death and dementia, studies show

Treating hearing loss with hearing aids was associated with a decline in mortality risk, a new study showed.

Your health resolutions for the new year may need to include getting checked for hearing aids.

Wearing hearing aids if you need them may help protect you from early death, according to a new study published Wednesday in The Lancet Healthy Longevity journal.

“What we found was that there was a 24% lower risk of mortality for people who use hearing aids,” said Dr. Janet Choi, an assistant professor of clinical otolaryngology-head and neck surgery with the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine and an otolaryngologist with Keck Medicine of USC.

The study looked at the data of 10,000 people — more than 1,800 of whom were identified as having hearing loss — and followed up on their mortality between 1999 and 2012.

Some 237 of those with hearing loss reported using hearing aids at least once a week, whereas 1,483 reported never using hearing devices, according to the research.

Hearing aids without a prescription could be just as helpful in treating hearing loss, study shows

There was no difference in risk of death over the research period between people who used hearing aids occasionally and those who never wore them, but regular users were at a significantly lower risk, the study showed.

And that mortality risk was lower for hearing aid users regardless of factors such as age, ethnicity, income, education, medical history and degree of hearing loss, according to the study.

About 30 million people ages 12 and older in the United States have hearing loss in both ears, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

But only about 15% of those who could benefit from hearing aids are using them, according to the author of an April study.

“The (new) study underscores the critical role of addressing modifiable risk factors not just for immediate health benefits but as a potent strategy for enhancing overall longevity and well-being,” Dr. Thomas Holland, physician scientist at the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging, said via email. Holland was not involved in the research.

Fortunately, self-fitting, over-the-counter hearing aids are now available, and the April study shows they may be just as effective as those fitted from by an audiologist.

Why hearing aids are so helpful

The latest study adds more support to the understanding that hearing loss and longevity are connected, but there are still questions about why that is, Choi said.

“This is an association study. We didn’t really particularly look at the mechanism behind these associations,” she said.

But there are some hypotheses as to why the association between hearing aids and longevity exists.

Previous studies have shown a connection between hearing loss and frailty, and there is evidence that untreated hearing loss could affect social isolation and declines in physical activity and cognitive function, Choi said.

“There are also some studies showing that the auditory deprivation itself — not getting enough sound — can have negative impact on brain structures,” she added.

A possible connection with dementia

Hearing aids could also mean a lowered dementia risk, according to a study published Thursday in the journal JAMA Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery.

The study looked at data from more than 500,000 people 50 years of age or older in southern Denmark and followed up on their health between 2003 and 2017.

Those with hearing loss were at a 7% greater risk of developing dementia, according to the study. And the risk was even higher (14%) in those with hearing loss who did not use hearing aids compared with those who did.

The large and well-conducted study is just part of an expanding body of evidence that hearing loss and dementia are connected, but there are still questions about whether that is causation or correlation, said Dr. Jason Warren, professor of neurology and consultant neurologist at University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology.

“Studies of this kind should be interpreted with care — the brain changes associated with early dementia can affect hearing potentially some years before dementia is diagnosed,” Warren said. “We should therefore be cautious about inferring that hearing loss causes dementia or that dementia can be prevented by wearing hearing aids.”

Getting checked

The growing body of research shows that if you are noticing a difference in your hearing, you should go get checked, Choi said.

Hearing loss should not be “counted as something related to (a) normal part of aging and there’s nothing that they need to do about it,” she added. “There’ll be even more studies coming out that will show that hearing aids are helpful and they have positive impact. And we all know that at the end of the day, it really helps with patients’ communication and quality of life.”

How are hearing aids and dementia related? A new study explains

If you do have hearing loss, at least try out hearing aids, especially with the significant improvements in technology, Choi said.

“A lot of people are not using hearing aids because they don’t want to look older,” she added. “They don’t want to be associated with disability, but it really doesn’t have to be that way.”

It is important to be proactive when it comes to addressing health risks, especially when they are as easily modifiable as wearing hearing aids, Holland said.

Work closely with your doctors and stay on top of checkups while monitoring your sleep, exercise, nutrition, alcohol intake, blood pressure and blood sugar for a longer, healthy life, he added.

“By fostering a partnership with your healthcare provider and adopting a lifestyle that prioritizes these factors, you empower yourself to build a robust foundation for long-lasting well-being and vitality,” Holland said.

Clarification: This story was updated to clarify the source of the percentage of people who use hearing aids.

This Common Device Can Slow Cognitive Decline, Trial Shows

So now I need to find out if my having a stroke is one of these considered dementia risk factors, I guess I look good.

This Common Device Can Slow Cognitive Decline, Trial Shows

Hearing loss is more than a marker for dementia risk, it appears

by John Gever, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today July 18, 2023

AMSTERDAM -- Cognitive decline in older adults with dementia risk factors was slower when they wore hearing aids in a randomized trial.

But no benefit from hearing aids was seen in otherwise similar individuals without risk factors for dementia, the results indicated.

Among at-risk individuals, cognitive decline was reduced by 48% over 3 years of follow-up in those assigned to wear hearing aids relative to a control group given general health advice, according to Frank Lin, MD, PhD, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and colleagues.

In a different segment of the trial sample comprising healthy older people, though, use of hearing aids did not affect participants' cognitive trajectory.

Results of the trial, called the Aging and Cognitive Health Evaluation in Elders (ACHIEVE) study, were presented here at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference and published simultaneously in The Lancet.

Numerous studies have linked hearing loss with future dementia risk, but the nature of that association, and particularly whether it was causal, has not been clear. In the Lancet paper, Lin and colleagues explained that several theories have been advanced for how hearing loss might exacerbate cognitive decline: coping with it might increase a person's "cognitive load," alter brain structure, and/or discourage "engagement in social and cognitively stimulating activities."

If there is indeed a causal connection, then hearing loss could therefore be a modifiable factor -- hence the impetus for ACHIEVE.

Lin and colleagues enrolled two different sets of people in the trial, both connected to the long-running Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) project. This is an observational study that began in 1987 to follow people from middle age into their senior years. It has operated at four U.S. sites in North Carolina, Mississippi, Minnesota, and Maryland. The two ACHIEVE cohorts were 238 current ARIC participants and another 739 newly recruited (the "de novo" group) from the same four ARIC locations. Both groups were randomized 1:1 to receive hearing aids or a health-education program.

In general, the current ARIC participants would be considered at higher risk for future dementia because baseline factors including cognitive performance, educational attainment, and household income were all lower at baseline(Mine are great), and they had higher rates of illnesses such as hypertension(Mine is treated) and diabetes(Nope). This increased estimated risk was confirmed in ACHIEVE, as ARIC participants assigned to the education control experienced significantly greater cognitive decline during the trial's 3-year follow-up than did control participants in the de novo group.

Cognitive ability was primarily measured with a battery of 10 standard tests, such as delayed word recall, trail making, and animal naming. The investigators took pains to minimize the effects of hearing loss itself on test performance; only two of the tests exclusively involved hearing ability.

Secondary cognitive outcomes included the Mini-Mental State Examination and different subsets of the 10 neurocognitive tests specific to executive function, language skill, and memory. Different types of hearing aids were provided, individualized for participants after audiological testing.

ACHIEVE's primary endpoint was overall cognitive ability in both the ARIC and de novo groups pooled together; in this analysis, no benefit for the hearing aids was found. As noted earlier, no benefit was found either for the de novo group.

It was only in the ARIC group that a difference between the intervention and control groups was seen: a decline of 0.211 points with hearing aids versus 0.402 among controls (P=0.027). The biggest differential was in language ability (-0.116 vs -0.344, P=0.012); numerical advantages for the hearing aids were seen in executive function and memory but they fell just short of statistical significance.

Lin and colleagues noted that, because cognitive declines were much smaller in the de novo group -- there was no change at all in mean memory scores -- it would be difficult to see a benefit from hearing aids. Furthermore, some of these participants decided to start using hearing aids on their own, thus diluting the results.

In an accompanying commentary in The Lancet, two University College London researchers wondered at the magnitude of benefit seen in the ARIC participants, which they called "enormous" and perhaps "spurious."

To confirm the results, wrote Gill Livingston, MBBS, and Sergi Costafreda, MD, PhD, new studies should employ broader outcome measures that take in "mood, independence, social network, and physical activity," as well as "quantity of social contact."

In addition, they urged the ACHIEVE investigators to continue follow-up, especially in the de novo group, to determine whether an advantage for hearing aids becomes apparent with continued long-term use.

• 

  John Gever was Managing Editor from 2014 to 2021; he is now a regular contributor.

Disclosures

ACHIEVE was funded by the National Institute on Aging and the Eleanor Schwartz Charitable Foundation.

Lin reported a relationship with Frequency Therapeutics, Apple, Sonova/Phonak, Cochlear, Fondation Pour L'Audition, and Sharper Sense. Other authors reported extensive relationships with auditory device makers and pharmaceutical companies.

Primary Source

The Lancet

Source Reference: Lin FR, et al "Hearing intervention versus health education control to reduce cognitive decline in older adults with hearing loss in the USA (ACHIEVE): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial" Lancet 2023; DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01406-X.

Secondary Source

Is there an association between hearing aid use and risk of dementia?

Pretty sobering statistics; have hearing loss, get a hearing aid.

Is there an association between hearing aid use and risk of dementia?

In a recent study published in The Lancet Public Health Journal, the researchers examined the correlation between the use of hearing aids and the risk of developing dementia.

Study: Association between hearing aid use and all-cause and cause-specific dementia: an analysis of the UK Biobank cohort. Image Credit: SalimHanzaz/Shutterstock.com

Background

Both hearing loss and dementia are common in older adults. Using hearing aids to treat hearing loss in middle-aged or older individuals could potentially lower the risk of dementia.

The impact of hearing aid use on reducing the risk of dementia in real-world situations is uncertain, despite studies indicating that it can enhance cognitive function and reduce cognitive decline.

About a study

In the present study, researchers investigated the link between hearing aid usage and the likelihood of developing cause-specific and all-cause dementia.

UK Biobank is a cohort study that enrolled more than 500,000 volunteers aged between 40 years and 69 years from 2006 to 2010. A questionnaire was used to gather data on hearing loss and hearing aid usage.

The participant's hearing status was determined through a self-reported question that asked, "Do you experience any hearing difficulties?" Users can respond with "no", "yes", or "I am completely deaf".

The hearing loss status was divided into two categories: those without hearing loss and those with hearing loss. The study gathered information on the usage of hearing aids through a self-reported question that asked participants if they used a hearing aid often, with the option to answer "yes" or "no".

Starting in 2009, UK Biobank participants were surveyed about their use of hearing aids. Deaf participants were categorized as part of the group including individuals with hearing loss who did not use hearing aids, without being questioned about their use of hearing aids.

Dementia diagnoses were determined through hospital inpatient records as well as death register data. The study measured incident all-cause dementia as the outcome variable, which included subtypes such as Alzheimer's disease, non-Alzheimer's disease, nonvascular dementia, and vascular dementia.

Results

Almost 437,704 individuals were included in the analyses. The study involved participants with a mean age of 56.0 years, consisting of 235,249 females and 202,455 males at baseline. The average length of follow-up was 12.1 years.

There were 325,882 participants without hearing loss and 111,822 with hearing loss. Approximately 13,092 individuals with hearing loss utilized hearing aids.

Hearing loss was more prevalent in men than women and increased with age. Individuals who suffer from obesity, loneliness, depressed mood, and cardiovascular disease are more likely to experience hearing loss and use hearing aids.

Individuals who had hearing loss but did not use hearing aids have a higher likelihood of developing all-cause dementia in comparison to those without hearing loss while people with hearing loss using hearing aids did not report increased risk.

The proportion of dementia risk among people with hearing loss who did not use hearing aids was almost 29%. Similar findings were observed for correlations with dementia subtypes. The study found that there were no significant differences between men and women in the results of stratified analyses.

However, the attributable risk proportions for different dementia types for hearing loss without using a hearing aid were higher among females than in males.

The study found that mediators played a role in the relationship between dementia and hearing aid usage. Specifically, 1.52% of the association was attributed to improved social isolation, 2.28% to improved loneliness, and 7.14% to improved depressed mood.

Significant interactions were observed for dementia, education, smoking, income level, cardiovascular disease, and APOE e4 allele status. Furthermore, dementia was found to be more prevalent in high-risk groups.

Individuals with hearing loss who did not use hearing aids had the highest risk across most interaction variables, while those who used hearing aids had lower to no risk increases compared to individuals having no hearing loss.

Two APOE e4 alleles were linked to higher dementia risk and did not show significant risk variations across hearing loss and hearing aid usage.

Conclusion

The study findings showed that individuals with hearing loss have a 42% higher risk of developing dementia compared to those with normal hearing. Up to 8% of dementia cases could be prevented with hearing loss management, highlighting the important need to address this issue.

Using hearing aids was linked to a similar risk of dementia as individuals without hearing loss. Further highlighting a need to better our hearing loss management.

Associations were found in cause-specific and all-cause dementia subtypes. Clinical trials are necessary to evaluate the impact of hearing aid usage on dementia risk.

The role of various types of hearing aids and the duration of their use in preventing dementia in hearing impairment also needs to be determined.

Journal reference:

• Jiang, F., Mishra, S.R., Shrestha, N., Ozaki, A., Virani, S.S., Bright, T., Kuper, H., Zhou, C. and Zhu, D., 2023. Association between hearing aid use and all-cause and cause-specific dementia: an analysis of the UK Biobank cohort. The Lancet Public Health. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(23)00048-8  https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(23)00048-8/fulltext

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Tags: AIDS, Allele, Alzheimer's Disease, Cardiovascular Disease, Cognitive Function, Dementia, Education, Hearing, Hearing Loss, Hospital, Obesity, Public Health, Smoking, UK Biobank, Vascular

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Bhavana Kunkalikar

Bhavana Kunkalikar is a medical writer based in Goa, India. Her academic background is in Pharmaceutical sciences and she holds a Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy. Her educational background allowed her to foster an interest in anatomical and physiological sciences. Her college project work based on ‘The manifestations and causes of sickle cell anemia’ formed the stepping stone to a life-long fascination with human pathophysiology.

New Study Links Hearing Loss With Dementia in Older Adults

 

This from February 2021 should have already had your doctor testing and providing you with hearing aids. If not, you don't have a functioning stroke doctor.

Hearing aids could delay dementia by five years, study suggests February 2021

The latest here:

New Study Links Hearing Loss With Dementia in Older Adults

A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that older adults with greater severity of hearing loss were more likely to have dementia, but the likelihood of dementia was lower among hearing aid users compared to non-users.

The findings, from a nationally representative sample of more than 2,400 older adults, are consistent with prior studies showing that hearing loss might be a contributing factor to dementia risk over time, and that treating hearing loss may lower dementia risk.

The findings are highlighted in a research letter published online January 10 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“This study refines what we’ve observed about the link between hearing loss and dementia, and builds support for public health action to improve hearing care access,” says lead author Alison Huang, PhD, MPH, a senior research associate in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Epidemiology and at the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health, also at the Bloomberg School.

Hearing loss is a critical public health issue affecting two-thirds of Americans over 70. The growing understanding that hearing loss might be linked to the risk of dementia, which impacts millions, and other adverse outcomes has called attention to implementing possible strategies to treat hearing loss.

For the new study, Huang and colleagues analyzed a nationally representative dataset from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS). Funded by the National Institute on Aging, the NHATS has been ongoing since 2011, and uses a nationwide sample of Medicare beneficiaries over age 65, with a focus on the 90-and-over group as well as Black individuals.

The analysis covered 2,413 individuals, about half of whom were over 80 and showed a clear association between severity of hearing loss and dementia. Prevalence of dementia among the participants with moderate/severe hearing loss was 61 percent higher than prevalence among participants who had normal hearing. Hearing aid use was associated with a 32 percent lower prevalence of dementia in the 853 participants who had moderate/severe hearing loss.

The authors note that many past studies were limited in that they relied on in-clinic data collection, leaving out vulnerable populations that did not have the means or capacity to get to a clinic. For their study, the researchers collected data from participants through in-home testing and interviews.   

How hearing loss is linked to dementia isn’t yet clear, and studies point to several possible mechanisms. Huang’s research adds to a body of work by the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health examining the relationship between hearing loss and dementia.

The study authors expect to have a fuller picture of the effect of hearing loss treatment on cognition and dementia from their Aging and Cognitive Health Evaluation in Elders (ACHIEVE) Study. Results from the three-year randomized trial are expected this year.

“Hearing loss and dementia prevalence in older adults in the United States” was co-authored by Alison Huang, Kening Jiang, Frank Lin, Jennifer Deal, and Nicholas Reed.

Support for the research was provided by the National Institute on Aging (K23AG065443, K01AG054693).

# # #

Reported Co-Author Disclosures: Nicholas Reed, AuD, serves on the scientific advisory board of Neosensory. Frank Lin, MD, PhD, is a consultant to Frequency Therapeutics and Apple and director of a research center funded in part by a philanthropic gift from Cochlear Ltd to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Lin is also a board member of the nonprofit Access HEARS.

Media contacts: Molly Sheehan at msheeh19@jhmi.edu and Barbara Benham at bbenham1@jhu.edu.

Could hearing aids help prevent dementia? New study finds possible link

This from February 2021 should have already had your doctor testing and providing you with hearing aids. If not , you don't have a functioning stroke doctor.

Hearing aids could delay dementia by five years, study suggests February 2021

The latest here:

Could hearing aids help prevent dementia? New study finds possible link

Your hearing could play a role in the risk of developing dementia — and hearing aids could be an important tool in countering that.

A new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health examined 2,413 older adults — ages 65 and older — and found those with more severe hearing loss were also more likely to also develop dementia.

However, the study found, that risk was reduced when the person used hearing aids.

“Hearing loss is a critical public health issue affecting two-thirds of Americans over 70,” according to a news release from researchers.

While previous studies linked hearing loss and dementia, the new research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, goes outside of a clinical setting and includes in-home testing and interviews to better understand the connection.

Researchers used data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study, from the National Institute on Aging, to conduct an analysis of thousands of older Americans. Half of the study participants were over 80 years old and showed a clear connection between severe hearing loss and the development of dementia.

“Prevalence of dementia among the participants with moderate/severe hearing loss was 61 percent higher than prevalence among participants who had normal hearing,” and hearing aids reduced the risk even further — 32 percent — in over 800 participants with “moderate” or “severe” hearing loss, according to the release.

That means the risk of developing dementia after hearing loss was reduced by nearly one-third in participants using a hearing aid.

The researchers note that while there is a clear correlation between hearing loss and dementia, how exactly the two are linked is still unknown, requiring more research in the future. The study cites previous research estimating 8 percent of dementia cases worldwide were caused by hearing loss.

“This study refines what we’ve observed about the link between hearing loss and dementia, and builds support for public health action to improve hearing care access,” lead author Alison Huang, from the department of epidemiology and the Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health at the Bloomberg School, said in the release.

Hearing aids could delay dementia by five years, study suggests

Is your doctor going to inform you of this because of your increased risk of dementia? My assumption is that hearing loss really cuts down on social connections.

Your chances of getting dementia, your doctor's responsibility to prevent this.

1. A documented 33% dementia chance post-stroke from an Australian study?   May 2012.

2. Then this study came out and seems to have a range from 17-66%. December 2013.`    

3. A 20% chance in this research.   July 2013.

4. Dementia Risk Doubled in Patients Following Stroke September 2018 

The latest here:

 

Hearing aids could delay dementia by five years, study suggests

Hearing aids can stave off dementia in hard of hearing patients for five years, a study has suggested.

A third of over-50s who wore a hearing aid had not developed the condition five years after they were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), researchers found.

In contrast, 81 per cent of those who did not wear hearing aids were found to have dementia.

This is the first study to investigate the link between hearing aids and progression to dementia in individuals with MCI - those with memory difficulties but not classified as suffering from dementia.

Some people diagnosed with MCI will go on to develop dementia, some will remain stable over time and a few people will improve and no longer have any problems.

Scientists say the findings are an "important first step" in supporting a move to encourage people with hearing loss who are at risk of dementia to wear hearing aids.

The researchers looked at 2,114 hearing-impaired patients over the age of 50 from the National Alzheimer's Co-ordinating Centre.

The percentage of participants who had not developed dementia five years after their MCI diagnosis was 19 per cent for non-users of hearing aids and 33 per cent for those using hearing aids.

Overall, using a hearing aid was associated with a slowing of the conversion from MCI to dementia by an average of two years.

Dr Magda Bucholc, of Ulster University, said that while it might be considered a "modest finding", the overall benefits to public health could be significant.

"In my opinion, given there is no disease-modifying treatment for dementia, even a small beneficial effect of hearing loss treatment in delaying the disease can have significant implications for public health," she said.

"In fact, studies show that delaying the onset of dementia by even two years would have substantial economic and societal effects."

The research was published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions.

Dr Ralph Holme, executive director of research at the national hearing loss charity RNID, said: "It is well established that hearing loss is associated with an increased risk of dementia, and this new research supports the growing view that the use of hearing aids may help slow its onset.

"Further research is needed to definitively show this, but clearly taking early action to address your hearing loss can only be a good thing. RNID is helping to fund vital research to understand why hearing loss and dementia are linked."

 

Hearing Aids May Delay Cognitive Decline

Is this one of the tests your doctor is performing to ensure you don't get cognitive decline after your stroke?

Hearing Aids May Delay Cognitive Decline

Researchers in Australia have found that nearly all participants in a study who used their hearing aids significantly improved their mental ability to plan, organize information and initiate tasks. Find out more.

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Wearing hearing aids may delay cognitive decline in older adults and improve brain function, according to promising new research.

Hearing & Dementia

Cognitive decline is associated with hearing loss, which affects about 32 per cent of people aged 55 years, and more than 70 per cent of people aged over 70 years. Hearing loss has been identified as a modifiable risk factor for dementia.

University of Melbourne researchers have tested the use of hearing aids in almost 100 adults aged 62-82 years with hearing loss.

Participants were assessed before and 18 months after having hearing aids fitted on their hearing, cognitive function, speech perception, quality of life, physical activity, loneliness, mood and medical health.

After 18 months of hearing aid use, researchers found speech perception, self-reported listening disability and quality of life had significantly improved for participants.

Most notably, 97.3 per cent of participants in this study showed either clinically significant improvement or stability in executive function -- their mental ability to plan, organise information and initiate tasks.

Women, in particular, showed significant improvements in working memory -- used for reasoning and decision-making -- as well as most other cognitive functions assessed.

The study also found more frequent use of hearing aids was associated with greater improvements in cognitive function, and women were much more diligent at wearing the devices than men.

University of Melbourne Associate Professor and Chief Investigator of the study, Julia Sarant, said improvement in cognitive function is something that is not usually seen in older adults.

"Although there are successful treatments for hearing loss, there is currently no successful treatment for cognitive decline or dementia," Associate Professor Sarant said.

"This research is a positive step in investigating the treatment of hearing aids to delay cognitive decline.

"Further research is underway to compare cognitive outcomes from a larger sample size with those of a healthy aging comparison group of older Australians with typical hearing for their age."

More at link.